People For the American Way

Falsehoods and Failures: Trump During COVID-19 (5/01 Update)

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The prolonged social isolation necessary for lessening the spread of COVID-19 is having negative effects on all of us, but Donald Trump’s responses are causing millions of people great harm. This week’s round-up showcases the way that the pandemic has exacerbated Trump’s worst impulses, including dishonesty, self-congratulation, anger, and selfishness.

In the wake of Trump’s dangerous comments suggesting the injection of disinfectant into COVID-19 patients last week, he was widely rebuked by allies, public health officials, and the media. After trying to argue that the statement had been “sarcastic,” he finally stepped back from daily coronavirus press briefings over the weekend – only to release a torrent of invective on Twitter that Sunday, claiming that the briefings themselves weren’t “worth the time & effort.” Unsurprisingly, Trump did another about-face when he returned to the briefing podium on Monday and then continued to appear all week. Trump can’t resist the media spotlight for longer than one weekend.

Trump also muddied the waters about a realistic timeline for increasing testing capacity, stating that the U.S. would be able to provide five million tests per day, the number that public health experts recommend as a minimum for lifting lockdowns, “very soon.” That comment came mere hours after the assistant secretary of health told reporters that COVID-19 testing on that scale wasn’t currently feasible. Throughout the pandemic, Trump has continued to offer unsupported assurances that testing isn’t a “problem at all,” although it clearly is.

Trump has no excuse for failing our country, its people, and the entire world at every stage of the pandemic. The best way to hold him and the Republican Party accountable will be at the ballot box, be it remote or in person, come November.